


More Than you Know

by Floral-Foxes (stilalalinski)



Series: 4 times Loki lied +1 time he told the truth [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Brothers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, disregards after credit scene, loki has a heart (maybe), mentioned grandmaster, thor and loki being thor and loki, thor is conflicted, time on sakaar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 16:29:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13884726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stilalalinski/pseuds/Floral-Foxes
Summary: "It’s not that Thor didn’t trust his brother...but well...he didn’t trust Loki. There was a clear distinction in Thor’s mind between Brother-Loki and Loki, and right now he was absolutely being Loki."-------------------------------------------------------------------------------After the events of Thor: Ragnorak, Thor knows Loki is hiding something; he has questions and Loki has denial. He can't force Loki to tell him the truth, but a timely appearance from Valkyrie might be the aid he needs.





	More Than you Know

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure where this idea came from, and it didn't go the way I intended it to, but hey--here is the cliched Loki slept with the Grandmaster fic everyone and their mother is writing. Enjoy :)

It’s not that Thor didn’t trust his brother...but well...he didn’t trust _Loki_. There was a clear distinction in Thor’s mind between Brother-Loki and _Loki_ , and right now he was absolutely being _Loki_.

During the moments of peace, when the Aesir had settled into their lives as refugees, Thor had begun asking Loki questions--questions that the Silver-Tongued Prince was adept at avoiding.

_How did he gain the Grandmaster’s favor?_

_What caused the antagonism between him and Valkyrie?_

_How did he escape Asgard’s fiery ruins?_

_What was he hiding from Thor?_

The last one earned Thor a scoff and an overly dramatic eye-roll; how could Loki be hiding something when he was stuffed into a ship with thousands of watchful eyes?

Well...because he was Loki, that was how.

Thor had found himself wandering aimlessly down the ship’s halls that day, his feet subconsciously steering him towards Loki’s room. His first intentions, upon entering his brother’s room, was to ask how the surviving mages’ attempts to set up a medical facility was coming along; instead, he found himself simply watching Loki in a position so familiar yet so distant in memory.

Loki was lounging on his bed in casual attire, completely immersed in a thick tome of some sort. One hand picked aimlessly at a loose strand of cloth he was using as a makeshift blanket, the other carefully turned the pages of the book propped against his knees, each press of fingers delicate and precise.

Thor watched him warily, his heart thumping a wild beat because _damn it,_ Loki was here and if he could just _trust him_...but he couldn’t, not yet (if ever).

Loki would deny and deny until he was blue in the face (no pun intended) that he wasn’t hiding anything, but Thor sometimes thought he knew Loki better than Loki knew himself. He knew Loki’s ticks, his tells, and if his brother’s constant tapping, twitching, and twisting fingers was any indication--well...something was definitely bothering him.

“Stare too hard and your last eye will surely give out.”

Thor startled, a quick jolt of embarrassment at being caught, and met Loki’s green ( _too blue too blue what happened to you, brother_ ) eyes narrowed shrewdly at him from behind his book.

“What?” Thor asked dumbly and shook his head, acutely aware of the way his hair used to brush his cheeks with every movement. “I wasn’t staring.”

“You weren’t,” Loki stated blankly, clearly unimpressed. “Then you must have mastered the art of sleeping with one eye open, a feat you’ve clearly been practicing this past month.”

Thor’s mind scrambled for a retort, anything to match Loki’s dry wit, but Thor was not the skilled word-smith his brother was, never had been and never would be. No, Thor preferred the much more straightforward, blunt approach.

“Is your hidden secrets putting the lives of our people in danger?”

Obviously not expecting this confrontation so soon, Loki blinked away surprise and quietly placed his book down, careful not to crinkle any of the pages.

“As I’ve told you, brother, I am not hiding anything from you,” he spoke softly, slowly, a clear warning sign to drop the conversation.

Thor snorted his disbelief and gestured at the frayed cloth twisted in Loki’s fingers.

“Then what has you so nervous?”

Loki’s hand jerked from the blanket as though burned and curled into a tight fist by his side; his face wiped blank as he rigidly stood to face Thor.

“An unconscious habit--you need not look so deep, brother, it’ll only confuse you,” he sneered and took long, striding steps towards the entrance.

Having expected the abrupt departure, Thor quickly intercepted Loki’s path and blocked the door, a smug grin pulling at his lips.

“Like I said--growing predictable.”

Loki’s expression darkened, and for a moment Thor fully anticipated a blade to his gut. Instead, Loki took a deep breath and shrugged, turning his back on Thor to resume his position on the bed, hands already grabbing for the disregarded book.

Thor was ready to press the conversation further when a loud knock echoed behind him. He glanced between the door and Loki, the latter choosing to ignore the questioning look sent his way.

“Who--”

The door burst open and a very drunk Valkyrie grinned widely at Thor, two unopened bottles of some alcoholic beverage held out in offering.

“Your highness, I’ve brought--oh,” her glazed eyes slid past Thor and met Loki’s cool stare, her lips twisting into a grimace. “Great, Lackey’s here, too. Perfect.”

“These are my quarters after all,” Loki drawled unimpressed. Valkyrie blinked owlishly and scanned the room with a muttered curse.

“I could’ve sworn they said Thor’s room was this way,” she grunted before shrugging and pressing the bottle into Thor’s chest. “Whatever, found you regardless.” She haphazardly tossed the other bottle at Loki’s head and frowned when he caught it.

“Show-off.”

“Drunkard.”

“Okaaay, not that I don’t enjoy your presence, Val,” Thor quickly intercepted before the two started fighting, “but what brings you here?”

Valkyrie scowled at Loki a moment longer before addressing Thor, her expression melting into something warmer.

“Heimdall found a habitable planet nearby, should be able to stop and refuel, gather resources, all that good shit,” Valkyrie grinned and lifted another bottle (where does she even hide those) at Thor. “Figured we should celebrate.”

“Excellent,” Thor smiled widely, the anxiety of depleting resources waning from his mind; that was one less stress to...well...stress about. He raised his own bottle in cheers and took a swig of the burning liquid, pleasantly noting as Loki quietly did the same, their eyes briefly meeting in shared understanding.

In these moments, Thor achingly loved his little brother--distraught over what they had lost, content with what they had re-found--it was a bittersweet swell of emotions that threatened to swallow him whole.

Thor blinked the burning from his eye and ignored the flash of something in Loki’s expression. Instead, he glanced back at Valkyrie, who was finishing her drink with a loud burp.

“So, whatcha doin with Flunky anyways, your majesty?” She asked Thor, intonation sarcastic as ever.

Thor was thus presented with two options: he could admit he sought his brother’s progress and delve into political talk; or, he could take a page from Loki’s book and sneak the answers he so desperately sought from Valkyrie.

Obviously, he chose option two.

“You were on Sakaar for quite a while, right, Val?” Thor asked innocently.

Loki’s eyes narrowed dangerously but Thor was tired of lies and secrets--he wanted the truth.

“Sure, I guess; time does work differently there, after all,” Valkyrie said with a shrug, confused by the non-sequitur.

“Thor--” Loki began.

“And you were one of the Grandmaster’s favorites, right? How’d ya do it, anyway?”

“Skill and a stubborn attitude,” Valkyrie grinned wickedly before rolling her eyes. “I didn’t sleep with him, that’s for sure,” she barked a laugh and shot Loki an unimpressed stare.

The room erupted into silence, a quiet so loud Thor could feel it rushing in his ears. Valkyrie’s expression melted into confusion as she glanced between the rigid Loki and blank Thor.

“Oh shit…You didn’t--ahh fuck,” she mumbled and half-heartedly apologized to Loki under her breath.

Whatever Thor had imagined--murder, espionage, blackmail; sex had never once crossed his mind.

_That’s a lie, you saw how the Grandmaster looked at Loki, you saw and you ignored--_

“You were the Grandmaster’s whore?”

Thor’s shock was too loud, too much, from the previous silence and Loki winced, his fingers starting their habit of tap tap tapping away.

“Please,” Loki’s voice was scathing in the face of Thor’s anger, “like that’s hardly the worst thing I’ve ever done.”

_His younger brother--_

_He killed 80 people in two days--_

_His small, sweet, baby brother--_

_I wish I could trust you--_

“Did he hurt you?” Thor growled, fingers curling into a fist of lightning.

Green eyes widened, open and vulnerable, before dropping to the raging storm building at Thor’s fingertips.

“Brother, you need to calm--”

“Did he hurt you?” Thor roared and swept into Loki’s personal space, stopping himself just short of yanking on Loki’s collar. Valkyrie took a cautious step away from the brothers and readied herself for a fight to break out.

Instead of violence, the lightning fizzled away as Thor’s palm cupped the back of Loki’s neck, cradling his head in a gesture far too familiar, far too sentimental. His expression was still stormy, his frown so etched into his skin he thought it would become permanent, but his eyes were bright in all the wrong ways of anger.

“Thor...I--” Loki stared wildly at Thor, at his brother who had aged into a man bereft of a mother, a father, and held years of sorrow behind one uncovered eye.

Thor’s grip on Loki tightened as his throat burned-- _goddamn how he had missed Loki_.

Loki gently untangled himself from Thor’s grasp and cleared his throat, expression unreadable.

“No,” he stated plainly. “He didn’t hurt me.”

Valkyrie shot Loki an incredulous stare to which Loki countered with a sharp **don’t** that rattled through her brain.

The world stopped spinning and Thor sucked in a grateful breath.

_You don’t truly believe--_

No, no he didn’t truly believe Loki’s words, but pressing the matter would only make Loki further retreat within himself. The fact that Loki had even answered his question was enough for the time being--Loki would come to him when (if) he wanted to talk about Sakaar.

“Very well,” Thor said quietly, nodding in acknowledgement at Loki. If Loki appreciated Thor’s acquiescence he didn’t show it, simply returned the nod and brought his drink back to his mouth.

“Now that that is out of the way,” he remarked dryly and tilted his bottle toward Thor and Valkyrie, “I do believe we were going to celebrate.”

Valkyrie shouted her agreement and Thor found himself smiling at them, putting his other concerns to rest for the moment.

For now, they would rejoice in each other’s company.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Later, when Thor had long since passed out on the couch, and Loki and Valkyrie had fought over the quality of whiskey vs vodka, the room was once again quiet.

It was a comfortable silence, a silence that represented a night of celebration and camaraderie.

Loki was gathering the discarded bottles off his floor while Valkyrie readied herself to leave, claiming she had spent more than enough time in Loki’s presence.

She paused at the door and cast a fond smile at the softly snoring Thor; the clinking of bottles turned her expression more somber as she remembered Loki in the background.

“Why’d you lie to him, by the way?” She asked over her shoulder.

“That’s what I do best.”

Valkyrie rolled her eyes at the expected response but still made no move to leave.

“He would’ve gone on a warpath of righteous vengeance if he knew,” she said thoughtfully. Loki was quiet and for a moment Valkyrie didn’t expect an answer at all.

“Which is why I didn’t tell him,” was the quiet reply. Valkyrie opened her mouth to respond, but Loki wasn’t done yet.

“He’d go gallivanting off in an attempt to avenge my _stolen virtue_ ,” he scoffed. “No. He’s needed here.”

“That’s rather noble of you,” Valkyrie remarked blithely. If she knew better she would’ve sworn she heard Loki snort in a very un-noble manner.

“I am a prince, after-all.”

“Of course, your highness,” Valkyrie replied, usual sarcasm missing.

She finally looked over her shoulder at Loki, noted the way he was all but hunched into himself, and huffed a small smile.

“Find me if you ever need a drink,” she said lazily and winked at Loki’s shocked expression, hair swinging behind her as she sauntered out of the room.

_Thor and Loki were a fucking mess..._

Casting one final glance behind her, Valkyrie watched as Loki removed the worn blanket from his bed and tentatively placed it over Thor’s frame.

_...but they were brothers._

**Author's Note:**

> ...and then Thanos ruins everything.


End file.
